How to use Sharpmaker and not scratch?

Joined
Jul 9, 2003
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I'm scared of this thing now...

I've sharpened my small Sebenza and the bevel is all scratched, but it is sharper. I'm afraid if I ever have to touch up the edge on my shiny Mnandi it will look terrible! I watched the video that came with it and followed all the instructions. I'm also finding it very difficult to use the flat sides of the stone. The edge doesn't want to stay flat on the stones. I'm afraid that's where I'm going wrong.

Also, I tried sharpening my friend's old Buck folder (dull as anything) and I could hardly get and edge on it. I tried the 30 degree back bevel wth both sets of stones and the 40 degree edge with both. It got sharper, but not nearly what I expected.

Help? :confused:
 
Sorry to hear about that. Everytime I use the Sharpmaker I just pay attention on keeping the edge as close to the stone as possible all the way, without pushing too much for that. (I think that's why u got the coating scratched cuz I discovered that if u insist on letting the blade touches the stone all the time, u will have to move the knife a bit to the left and to the right to compensate, then the spine won't be able to keep all the way down vertically, which I think is more important to avoid the scratch). On the other hand, I do make sure that the spine of the blade is moving down vertically at 90 degree to the base all the time. That gives my a nice edge with no scratching at all always.

Don't know about the answer for the Buck folder part. Someone else will have to help u on that.
 
Scratches: If you keep the knife perpendicular to the base of the sharpener, I don't see how you can scratch the edge. :confused:

Really dull blades: With the Buck, you probably just have to spend more time with it. You can easily spend several HOURS on a really dull knife if you don't have the diamond hones. The duller the knife is, the longer it takes to get to where you're working on the edge, as oppossed to the bevel behind the edge. That's why those in the know will tell you that it's a lot easier to keep a knife sharp than to sharpen a really dull knife. The Sharpie trick works well in these cases. Use a Sharpie, or some other felt-tip marker, to "paint" the edge of the blade. Just run the marker along the edge so that about 1/16" or so is colored. Then, as you sharpen, you'll actually be able to see where you're taking metal away, because you'll also be removing the marker. Alcohol will take the marker off the metal.

Be patient and keep working on it. Sharpening is like a lot of things, keep working at it and before you know it you'll have the "feel" for it.
 
Ditto the above comments. It sounds like you may be trying to use too much pressure. Only moderate pressure is needed, and your last few strokes should only be made with the weight of the blade doing the work. Too much pressure will roll over the edge. If you aren't getting a burr after 10 mins or so, you need to use a coarser grit to establish the bevel. One way to do this is to wrap some coarse (150 or so) grit sandpaper around the stones. 3M's Sandblaster paper should work well for this. The paper will wear out quickly, but it will also cut much, much more quickly than the Sharpmaker rods. Best of luck.
 
When I get a knife that is really dull, or a knife whose edge bevels don't happen to be at 30 or 40 degrees I use diamonds to cut in at the right angle. I started doing this before Spyderco put out the diamond rods so I just use a DMT stone held up against the ceramic rod. I works well, and I just have seen no real reason to go and spend more money for the Sharpmaker rods that will accomplish the same thing. This mothod will scratch up a blade real easily if not extremely careful to avoid scratches.

Me, I don't really worry about a scratched blade. I am trying to make the thing sharp because I want to use it to cut stuff, and it will eventually get scratched and worn through use anyway.
 
ErikD said:
When I get a knife that is really dull, or a knife whose edge bevels don't happen to be at 30 or 40 degrees I use diamonds to cut in at the right angle.

Too bad Spyderco no longer makes the diamond speed sleeves for their Sharpmaker, or do they?
 
Sometimes when sharpening my "purty" ones on stones, I cover all but the very edge of the blade with blue mask painter's tape to guard aganist a possible slip and blade scratch. Must keep'um "purty" you know.
 
If you're talking about the secondary bevel not having a mirror polish, that's to be expected when you use the 600 grit ceramics. If you want to reestablish a mirror polish you'll have to use a finer grit. You may get a satisfactory look by using a leather strop and some honing compound to polish the bevel.

On the Buck, focus on feeling the wire edge rather than spending a certain amount of time or number of strokes. Nothing useful will happen until you feel that wire edge ridge all the way along the blade. Once you've gotten that, the successively finer grits serve mainly to remove the wire.
 
Bear,
Thanks, about the scratching I figured that it was probably inevitable. I'll try polishing it with a strop or something. About sharpening the Buck, I'm not sure what u mean by the wire edge etc... :confused:
 
I had a problem getting a good, uniform, sharp edge with the Sharpmaker, until I discovered that all the triangular edges were not the same. Whenever I use the triangular edges of a stone, I run my fingers along the edge and feel for the smoothest of the three. I found that usually one or more of the edges have micro notches, dips or chips, and I select the smoothest edge. Using only the smoothest edges, I got good sharpening action from the Sharpmaker. Also check the flats - they tend to be more uniform - but if a finger check reveal rough spots, choose the smoothest surface.
 
JediKnight86:

When the edge is narrow enough to be sharp, you'll actually be bending it over from one side to the other.

You can feel this edge (sometimes called a wire edge) on the side away from the side you last sharpened. To do so, run your thumbnail down the side of the blade, at right angles to the edge, from the spine to the edge. Don't run your thumbnail (or anything) along parallel to the edge. You'll get cut.

When you've made this wire edge, you can feel it with your thumbnail at the very end of the edge on one side. Your thumbnail will make a little "click" feeling as it snaps over the wire edge.

That's how you know enough material has been removed to make the edge narrow enough to be sharp.

Everything after that is just gently removing (with finer abrasives and lighter pressure) or bending off (by stropping) that wire edge.

There are lots of great FAQs on sharpening. Read the stuff written by Joe Talmadge.

Bear
 
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